Download Courting Consumption: Courtly Love as the Forerunner

Courting Consumption: Courtly Love as the Forerunner of Modern
Consumerism
Consumerism is often thought to be a fairly recent development in the history of western society,
emerging no earlier than the Romantic period. Yet how could something so all-pervasive, that
influences every aspect of our daily lives, have sprung up out of nowhere and come to dominate our
culture in less than 200 years? The reality, when one examines literature prior to the Romantic
period, is that the origins of what we now call consumerism date back much further. Courtly love, a
literary tradition of European poetry from the 12th to 17th centuries (Baldick 2015) displays many of
the characteristics associated with the consumerist mindset, but in a more primitive form. It was
through technological advancements and changes in social structure that this humble beginning
transformed into the omnipresent force seen in the western world today.
Courtly love is one of the earliest examples of materialism seen in European history – specifically the
kind that refers to the valuing of material pleasure and possessions (Scott 2014). A deliberate show
of longing, courtly love is a literary trope in which a male lover is tortured into adoring submission by
his cruel mistress, who is the object of his desire (Baldick 2015). In the wake of his agony, the
aforementioned lover is seen to devote his time and energy into pining for his ‘lovee’1; pining for,
but not pursuing, as in the case of Orsino from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (Driver 2015). The
crucial element of courtly love is therefore not the relationship between lover and lovee, but rather
the former’s desire for the latter.
Courtly love was accepted to be a form of literary cult, practised widely across Europe by Italian
poets, French troubadours and German Minnesänger (Baldick 2015). At the time it was known as
fin’amours (refined love) (GALE 2015). The extensive and largely uniform use of the trope shows its
transformation from something isolated and informal into a codified, formalised practice, similar to
both Bohemianism in the Romantic period and consumerism today. What’s more is that its practice
took on a quasi-religious sheen, glorifying suffering and devotion. Courtly love already displayed the
hallmarks of modern consumerism as early as the Middle Ages: the defining of one’s identity based
on the desire for an object (in this case the lovee), and the fanatical devotion to this desire, as well
as to the thing itself.
From this core beginning, the tradition of courtly love directly influenced the emergence of
Bohemianism, and after this consumerism. Prominent themes from the courtly love era can be seen
in many Romantic texts, such as in Goethe’s ‘Wilkommen und Abschied’ (‘Welcome and Farewell’).
This poem tells the story of a couple who must meet in secret by night in order to carry out their
romance, which appears to be of no more substance than an obsessive desire for each other, and is
felt as pain by both:
1
The significance of this terminology, as opposed to simply ‘love’, is that the object of our lover’s affections
was just that – an object – whereas ‘love’ implies reciprocal emotion to some degree.
‘Doch ach, schon mit der
Morgensonne
Verengt der Abschied mir das Herz:
In deinen Küssen, welche Wonne!
In deinem Auge, welcher Schmerz!’
‘But soon at sunlight's earliest minute
My heart grows faint to say goodbye.
Your kisses' warmth, what rapture in
it,
What sorrow lingers in your eye!’
(Goethe 1771, trans. Zeydel 1955)
This kind of content was common in the original courtly love texts of the previous centuries (GALE
2015), but ‘Willkommen und Abschied’ is cemented as a truly Romantic text, rather than a
Renaissance remake, by its otherwise lavish descriptions of nature and its preoccupation with the
affairs of the heart.
In a more general way, courtly love can be seen as the seed from which Bohemianism grew: the
foundations of this new practice already existed in European literature long before Wordsworth and
his ilk (Baldick 2015). Technological and social restrictions meant that until their coming, the
consumerist mindset was restrained. In Lacanian theory, desire for the objet petit a can only exist
when said object is within reach – once it becomes impossible to attain, it can no longer be desired
in the same way (Kirschner 2005). Changes in social structure, the advent of mass production and
the emergence of the middle class meant that desire was now something the common man could
afford to have. Before this point in time the only objects which could have been sought after to any
realistic degree were people, but this horizon was now broadened to include other supposedly
identity-shaping things2. In other words, mass production and the growth of the middle class
allowed previously non-existent or unattainable objects to become desirable, paving the way for
Bohemianism and consumerism, whilst maintaining the lower-case romantic core of the past.
This core remains evident even in the pop culture of today. The things we consume need not be only
physical objects – they may be books, movies or television shows. It is in these media that we can
observe the resilient root of consumerism: the romantic chase. Romance is currently one of the
most sellable genres in the American paperback and e-book markets, purchased by 29 million
regular romance readers. The point of the romance is the struggle to win the heart of the perfect
partner (Salmon 2012), practically identical in nature to the original courtly love pursuit of the
elusive lovee3. This is seen not only in novels, but in film and television too – what blockbuster does
not contain at the very least the semblance of a blossoming romantic relationship between the
audience’s favourite characters? Critically, the story must end when the relationship seems to have
achieved long-term potential4, or else it must be complicated such that the lovers must once again
fight for each other. The reason for this is that it is the thrill of the chase, rather than the lure of
domestic bliss, which drives us. Like the readers of centuries ago, we want to imagine ourselves as
the kind of person who would fall in love – our interest, however, does not extend to the lovee
themselves. They are simply another objet petit a.
2
Circa the Portland Vase and follies; the idea of the picturesque person, rather than the picturesque lover,
now drove consumer choices.
3
Although, interestingly, the roles of the sexes are reversed: in portrayals of courtly love, the lover is generally
male (Baldick 2015), whereas the protagonist in a romance novel will almost exclusively be female (Salmon
2012). This may be attributed to changing concepts of masculinity over time, as well as the fact that the
mantra of ‘no sex before marriage’ has lessened in potency in the intervening centuries.
4
This was also true in Shakespeare’s time and in the Romantic period: Shakespeare’s comedies and Austen’s
novels end conveniently when all the major characters are married off, but give no hint of the domestic life
which is to follow (Driver 2015).
Consumerism is a part of our history as a society, and its roots extend further back than most
believe. The thrill of the chase – and the idea that it could apply to us – has been an integral part of
western culture for centuries, developing from the lower-case romantic pursuits of courtly love, to
the upper-case Romantic Bohemianism of Wordsworth and his contemporaries, right through to the
all-pervasive quasi-religion known today. The influence of its humble literary beginnings can be seen
in all stages of consumerism’s evolution. The lustful core that haunts our hearts and minds, the
obscure mediaeval tradition of courtly love is the foundation upon which our consumer culture is
built.
Bibliography
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Press, online, available from Oxford Reference.
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